The Apprentice, sponsors, and event managers

Mon, 2005-12-12 14:27

I missed the latest "Apprentice" episode, but from this post on E-Venting, it sounds like once again The Donald used event management as the task to set all those wannabes at each other's throats. It also sounds like one of the groups ran into a pretty common problem: Sponsors who want something that goes against the grain of the event. As the author notes,

Sponsor concessions like this in our industry result in unqualified speakers on stage, inappropriate content, too dense an agenda without enough networking time, and the diversion of resources away from the show's objectives, and towards a sponsor's.

And it happens all the time. I like his suggestion that every sponsor should have to manage an event before they could sponsor one, but it'll never happen. Short of that, I believe it's up to the event manager to explain why a certain move would run counter to the event's goals, how it would have the opposite effect than the one the sponsor is looking for, and to offer solutions that would achieve both the event's and the sponsor's aims. I don't know if the "Apprentice" candidates even tried, or if they just rolled over, or if they even understood there was a conflict, but real event managers would have known what to do.